- Moon Gohng-shin Receives a Revelation
- 1 Moon Gohng-shin was born in Gahng-sahm Village of Tae-in County, but later moved to Wa-ryohng Village of Go-bu County. He was the son of a civil servant. Being landowners, his family were quite well off.
- 2 From his youth, with no need to worry about a livelihood, he had been a seeker of dao. First, he practiced Buddhism, then Catholicism, and later, following his older brother, he studied Eastern Learning.
- 3 None of these were what he was looking for, and he earnestly wondered where he would find the true path.
- 4 He went to the Shrine of General Guan Yu in Tae-in County, where, for days, he fervently prayed to meet a true teacher.
- 5 As he prayed, spirits appeared. For the first five days, only minor spirits came, and he did not receive any sign.
- 6 Finally, on the sixth day, the minor spirits vanished and the spirit of General Guan Yu appeared and said, “Go south.”
- South to Nohng-ba-ooh Village
- 7 Gohng-shin returned home and for days pondered the revelation, “Go south.” He could make nothing of it.
- 8 It was autumn, the time to harvest rice and sow barley. One day, he had the farmhands sow barley seeds while he spread manure.
- 9 A friend from his wife’s village passed by and said, “Have you heard the news?”
- 10 “I have heard nothing new.”
- 11 “I heard there is an enlightened teacher in Nohng-ba-ooh Village who is all-knowing. The extent of His dao mastery is beyond description. I hope you go there and pay Him a visit. I wish I could come with you, but I am so busy these days.”
- 12 This caught Gohng-shin’s attention, and the very next morning, he left for Nohng-ba-ooh Village.
- 13 There, Gohng-shin found Sahng-jeh-nim and a few disciples resting at an inn. Sahng-jeh-nim had been waiting for him there for three days while conducting a work of renewal.
- 14 Gohng-shin went inside and, without paying attention to the disciples, asked Sahng-jeh-nim, “Excuse me, may I rest here a while?”
- 15 “Certainly. If you want to rest, why not come in?” Sahng-jeh-nim ordered the hostess, “Bring some rice wine.”
- (JSD Dojeon 3,138)